Imagine having a button you can press on the cricket pitch that shuts your stress down, while leaving you in full control.

In fact, you can have one of these buttons.

It's called an 'anchor' and the idea is based entirely on the most famous successful psychological experiment in history.

Pavlov's Dog

Is it true that cricketers are either a Boycott or a Botham?

It's often said to be the case that you are either cautious in nature and play safe (Boycott) or flamboyant and risky (Botham).

In fact, I have found that good players can operate using both philosophies depending on the game situation. Even Boycott could attack when he felt it needed (which wasn't very often).

There is no one in the UK cricket scene who knows more about sport psychology than Jeremy Snape.

He rightly points out that if 80% of cricket is in the head, why do we only spend 5% of the time working on our mental game?

But the England international, Master in Sports Psychology, and captain of Leicestershire CCC isn't into airy-fairy discussions about your relationship with your mother. Running his own company, Sporting Edge Solutions, he leaves the word 'psychology' with all it's negative connotations at the door and trains top class players in the practical application of performance thinking.

If anyone knew about pressure in sport it was 5 times Olympic Gold medalist Steve Redgrave.

His method for dealing with the massive pressures of his sport work just as effectively for cricketers too.

He knew it's the context that is the problem, not the task.

The example Steve often cites is walking across a plank of wood. If the plank were a foot off the ground, most people would dash across it no problem.

You can separate cricketers into two groups: Those who train and those who don't. Both groups make some common mistakes.

Ideally, I would love to see everyone training in some way or another. But even the die-hard non-practicers, can do some simple things to improve their game.

It's all about knowing what to avoid.

Steve Waugh was the master of 'mental disintegration': the process of wearing down a team's confidence until he is paralysed by self doubt.

It's a powerful, often aggressive weapon that won't make you many friends if you use it as a bowler or captain, but you can still use a version of the technique that can be just as effective as Waugh used and still be able to have a drink in the bar with the opposition batsman afterwards.

It's always seemed to me that 'visualising success' is one of those wishy-washy new age things that should never work.

Success, in my view, comes from hard work and laser focussed training, not lying back and imagining how good you can be.

In fact, visualisation is a proven vital element executing the skills you learn in practice (word doc).

It seems everyone does it all the time.

However it can be used for good or evil.

Research has shown that setting yourself effective cricket goals can lead to an improvement of up to 78% in your game.

It's also one of the simplest techniques to employ in your efforts to becoming a better cricketer. All you need is a pen, paper and 10 minutes or so.

We have all had games we want to forget. Out for a duck, smashed all over the park and looking like the village idiot in the field.

Failure is inevitable because perfection is impossible in cricket.

If Bradman couldn't be perfect how can you be?

What you can do is bounce back from your failures as quickly as possible, even if it seems like you will never get another run or wicket, there is always a way out given the right approach.

Cricket is no different to life: Teams and individuals operate best when they feel in control of a situation.

Unfortunately, the unpredictability of a cricket match makes it hard to keep this feeling. It's also why you find so many superstitious cricketers with lucky socks putting their left shoe on first: It provides the illusion of control.